5.  The applicant is a limited liability company with its seat in Vienna.
6.  In 2002 the applicant company published a book about K., Federal President of Austria at that time, and his family. The book included a passage suggesting that K. had forced his wife to undergo an abortion in the Netherlands. It was distributed to bookshops on 9 April 2002.
7.  On 22 April 2002 the Vienna Commercial Court (Handelsgericht) issued a preliminary injunction (einstweilige Verfügung) against the applicant company prohibiting it from disseminating statements concerning the alleged abortion. The preliminary injunction became enforceable on 24 April 2002.
8.  Since the applicant company allegedly did not comply, K. and his wife requested the enforcement of the injunction (Unterlassungsexekution). This request was granted by the Innere Stadt Vienna District Court (Bezirksgericht) on 2 May 2002.
9.  On 3 May 2002 the District Court, upon request of the opposing party, imposed for the first time a fine of EUR 10,000 on the applicant company for failure to comply with the injunction.
10.  On the basis of the enforcement order of 2 May 2002 the District Court subsequently, upon request of the opposing party, imposed fines between EUR 10,000 and EUR 75,000 on the applicant company 36 times, since the applicant company was found still not to have complied with injunction of 22 April 2002. All 37 decisions included costs orders, which amounted to EUR 741.76 in each case.
11.  The applicant company appealed against the enforcement order of 2 May 2002 to the Vienna Regional Court (Landesgericht). It also opposed the 37 fines which had subsequently been imposed on it. On 12 June 2002 the Vienna Regional Court quashed the decision of 2 May 2002, by which enforcement of the injunction had been granted, because, on the basis of the preliminary injunction, the applicant company could not be ordered to dispose of the books which had already been disseminated before the entry into force of that injunction. Subsequently, on 26 July 2002, the Regional Court also quashed all 37 decisions imposing fines and cost orders on the applicant company.
12.  On an unspecified date K. and his wife lodged extraordinary appeals against the decisions of the Regional Court.
13.  On 18 December 2002 the Supreme Court (Oberster Gerichtshof) gave a lengthy judgment on the appeals against the Regional Court's decisions of 12 June 2002 and 26 July 2002. Whereas the Supreme Court agreed with the Regional Court that the injunction ordering the applicant company not to distribute the book in question could not relate to copies of the book which had already been distributed to book shops, it found it established that the applicant company had also offered the book for mail order on its internet site. In this respect the applicant company had not complied with the injunction and enforcement through imposition of fines was in those instances justified.
14.  In the operative part of its judgment the Supreme Court accordingly granted the appeal in so far as it related to the imposition of fines in 11 cases, namely as regards decisions no. 4, 6, 8-11, 13, 14 and 18-20.
15.  As regards decision no. 4 the Supreme Court reformulated it to cover only a breach of the injunction for offering the book on the internet site, reduced the fine to EUR 1,000 but upheld the cost order of EUR 741.76.
16.  As regards the remaining 10 decisions the Supreme Court likewise held the applicant company responsible for a breach of the injunction, limited to offering the book on the internet site and reduced the fines to amounts between EUR 1,000 and EUR 2,000. The Supreme Court, however, was silent on the question of costs in respect of these 10 decisions.
17.  On 26 January 2005 the estate of K. and K.'s former wife requested the correction of the Supreme Court's judgment of 18 December 2002 maintaining that the court had by mistake omitted to restore the remaining 10 cost orders. The request was not communicated to the applicant company.
18.  On 16 February 2005 the Supreme Court corrected its judgment of 18 December 2002, by inserting in the operative part the following phrase:
“The cost orders, namely para 3 of the first instance decisions, are restored”
As a result, the applicant company had to pay an additional EUR 7.467,51 to the opposing parties.
19.  The applicant company was informed of the opposing parties' request on 27 June 2005, when the decision of the Supreme Court concerning the correction of its judgment was served on it.